News from the gar­den­ing world

Show gar­dens aim to in­spire a greater con­nec­tion with na­ture

Evo­ca­tions of the nat­u­ral world and coun­try­side will be high pro­file at next year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

Trees and wood­lands will be much in ev­i­dence with seven-time Gold medal-win­ning de­signer Andy Stur­geon draw­ing in­spi­ra­tion on the re­gen­er­a­tive power of na­ture for his head­line wood­land gar­den for M&G In­vest­ments, de­pict­ing a land­scape of young trees, ferns and other wood­land species. The Forestry Com­mis­sion will il­lus­trate the cru­cial need to safe­guard forests against our chang­ing cli­mate and the rav­ages of pests and dis­eases.

In­side the plant pavil­ions award-win­ning rose breeder David Austin will be cel­e­brat­ing their 50th an­niver­sary by show­cas­ing some ex­cit­ing new in­tro­duc­tions. Eight nurs­eries will be mak­ing their Chelsea de­but, in­clud­ing New­lands Herbs, Andy’s Air­plants and New For­est Hostas and He­me­ro­cal­lis. The Plant Her­itage Na­tional Col­lec­tion of Al­lium will dis­play a huge range of colour, shape and form of these pop­u­lar bul­bous plants. l For tick­ets visit www.rhs.org.uk/shows.

The M&G Gar­den De­signer: Andy Stur­geon. Spon­sor: M&G In­vest­ments In­spired by rock for­ma­tions seen on an Aus­tralian beach, huge burnt tim­ber sculp­tures on a dra­matic scale slice through a wood­land plant­ing com­posed of mainly pi­o­neer­ing North Amer­i­can trees and plants, set around a se­ries of pools and streams trick­ling through the land­scape.

The Manch­ester Gar­den De­signer: Ex­te­rior Ar­chi­tec­ture The de­sign cel­e­brates the im­mense value of ur­ban green spa­ces and re­flects the im­por­tance of cre­at­ing sus­tain­able land­scapes. Trees are cho­sen for their re­silience to cli­mate change and plants to clean and im­prove ur­ban soil.

The Re­silience Gar­den De­signer: Sarah Eberle. Spon­sor: The Forestry Com­mis­sion Com­mis­sioned to cel­e­brate The Forestry Com­mis­sion’s cen­te­nary, the gar­den, set in the Bri­tish coun­try­side, looks to the chal­lenges fac­ing forests. It explores how our wood­lands can be made re­silient to the ef­fects of a chang­ing cli­mate and in­creas­ing threats of pests and dis­eases.